The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.

This diploma thesis deals with preparedness of students of commercial Academy for their future employment. The object of research was Commercial Academy and Language school of Trebic. In present time the most of the students continue their studies on universities or college. My main interest was if the students of third class know the profile of graduate, the possibilities of future employment, if they find the present teaching system sufficient and if they applied any changes. The thesis also contains the view of teachers. As I am a former graduate and present teacher on this commercial Academy my main goal was to catch the both points of view. The thesis also shortly describes the implementation of state final exams and the system of high school's financing.

Den pågående coronapandemin har lamslagit stora delar av världen och brister i den svenska krisberedskapen har därmed uppdagats. Uppsatsens syfte är att förklara varför det svenska totalförsvaret nedrustades. För att kunna ge svar på forskningsfrågan kommer fem försvarsbeslut – försvarsbeslutet 1992, försvarsbeslutet 1996, försvarsbeslutet 2000, försvarsbeslutet 2004 och försvarsbeslutet 2009 – att analyseras. Besluten studeras utifrån en kvalitativ innehållsanalys, där Rational Actor Model används. Innehållsanalysen kompletteras med en kvalitativ forskningsintervju med den tidigare svenske försvarsministern Anders Björck. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna som studien följer är säkerhetisering, risker och hot. Bakgrundskapitlet behandlar den svenska beredskapen i nutid och det svenska försvarets historia. Tidigare forskning om beredskap och försvar internationellt lyfts fram tillsammans med hur delar av den svenska beredskapen har påverkats under de senaste 30 åren. Det rådande säkerhetsläget efter kalla kriget bidrog till nedskärningar i försvarsorganisationen, avskaffandet av ett invasionsförsvar och skapandet av ett insatsförsvar. Insatsförsvaret skulle ha hög operativ förmåga, såväl nationellt som internationellt och krävde därför förband av hög kvalitet, varpå värnplikten avskaffades. Beredskapslager ansågs inte vara lika behövande under det nya säkerhetsläget och det fördjupade samarbetet med den Europiska unionen skapade en naiv trygghet i att försörjningsberedskapen skulle kunna säkras genom medlemskapet. Arbetets slutsats till varför totalförsvaret nedrustades var det förändrade säkerhetsläget och en tilltagande tro på stöd från EU vid hanteringen av krissituationer i kombination med bristande historiekunskaper. / The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has paralyzed large parts of the world and shortcomings in the Swedish crisis preparedness have thus been discovered. The purpose of the thesis is to explain why the Swedish total defense was disarmed. In order to answer the research question, five defense decisions – the defense decision in 1992, the defense decision in 1996, the defense decision in 2000, the defense decision in 2004 and the defense decision in 2009 – will be analyzed. The decisions are studied based on a qualitative content analysis, using the Rational Actor Model. The content analysis is supplemented by a qualitative research interview with the former Swedish Defense Minister Anders Björck. The theoretical starting points that the study follows are security, risks, and threats. The background chapter deals with the Swedish preparedness of today and the history of the Swedish defense. Previous research on preparedness and defense internationally has been highlighted as well as how parts of Swedish preparedness have been affected over the past 30 years. The prevailing security situation after the Cold War contributed to cuts in the defense organization, the abolition of an invasion defense and the creation of an intervention defense. The intervention defense would have high operational capability, both nationally and internationally and therefore required high-quality associations and the military duty was abolished. Emergency preparedness stocks were not considered to be as needed during the new security situation, and the deeper cooperation with the European Union created a naive security that security of supply could be secured through the membership. The work's conclusion as to why the total defense was disarmed was the changed security situation and a growing belief in support from the EU in dealing with crisis situations, in combination with lack of historical knowledge.

This scientific paper examines five newly qualified social workers (NQSW) in Sweden who are in an intermediate position after graduation between education and working life in social work. The study aimed to investigate how the graduates felt prepared after training to execute professional conversations and meetings in social work with clients. Qualitative interviews were conducted for this paper, where the results show that the NQSW felt partially prepared for this. Some challenges were seen in the result related to conversations and meetings, amongst these, were their role in the exercise of authority, that showed that they had met deeper dimensions of authority than what their education had prepared them for. Through theories related to different roles based on Erving Goffman (2011), analysis has been made to different roles that NQSW needs to take on, and its impact on them. Results show, among other things, that NQSW perceive it as a difficult balance between being personal and professional in meetings with clients. The result also highlights personal and professional development for self-awareness from the education as helpful, but there was a wish for more of this during the social work program.With theories of knowledge according to Gustavsson (2000; 2002), the results were also analyzed and presented about how NQSW obtained knowledge and how education made it possible to gather knowledge for conversations and meetings in the social work. It was found in the results, as in previous research, that theoretical knowledge from education that was linked to actual situations or practice, has been beneficial to NQSW in their professional practice. However, NQSW felt that the education could continue to be more related to practice and wished for more reality-based education. Based on this essay, one can also point out the importance of the transition between education and practical work. NQSW could be seen as they carried a certain vulnerability in the form of knowledge gaps, uncertainty of their role, and how practical social work is executed when the NQSW goes from education. They felt that introduction to the field was important given from the new workplaces. In this essay, they meant that they were given some opportunity and support in continuing developing their knowledge, related to meetings and conversations through further education and collegial support at their workplaces.

Magister Curationis / Background: Globally, nurses and midwives are the most important healthcare providers. In most countries, nurses and midwives are often the first point of contact to healthcare, and in many rural areas, they are the only point of contact for patients. Skilled midwives are essential for the care of pregnant women and the safe delivery of their infants. Midwives play an important role in promoting the health and wellbeing of women, newborns and their families. In South Africa, slow progress in reducing maternal mortality can be partially attributed to a lack of appropriately trained health professionals to render some basic maternal care services. Aim & objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the self-perception of preparedness for midwifery practice of final-year nursing students at a university in the Western Cape, South Africa. The objectives of the study were to: identify midwifery skills final-year nursing students found challenging to perform independently, determine the level of confidence of final-year nursing students for managing patients in the maternity unit, determine the level of comfort/confidence of final-year nursing students in key practice skills performance, and collect baseline evidence of nursing students’ perceptions of self-preparedness to inform the higher education institution of gaps and needs identified by nursing students. Methodology: A quantitative research approach using a descriptive survey design was implemented to gather information. A self-administered questionnaire using the Casey-Fink Readiness for Practice Survey was used. Due to the limited size of the population, an all-inclusive sampling strategy was utilised, with a sample size of N=217. At the time of the survey, only 164 nursing students attended class. Only 112 questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 70.88%. All returned questionnaires had no missing data. SPSS Statistics version 25 was utilised for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, frequencies and tests for association were utilised.

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Online learning in the present circumstances of the pandemic is unique, unlike common digital learning situations, raises a number of concerns. University students might struggle with adjustment and feel discouraged by changes, as conventional socializing in class is their major loss in online learning. Students should continue to learn, and schools have gone to great lengths to transfer educational content into the digital world, not just online teaching and delivery methods, but also support the students' wellbeing. The project created a framework for students’ wellbeing support, online learning in higher education and crisis preparedness. Moreover, the project used several research methods to collect and analyze data, and design methods to treat and develop ideation. The resulting project is called the ‘Online participation Art Strategy’. Based on the insights that ‘enhancing online learning by enhancing online participation’, the project provides educational materials in the form of campaign design and graphic design, to enhance online participation and thereby support the wellbeing of students. / <p>Online presentation</p>

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Caldera systems such as Long Valley Caldera, California; Taupo, New Zealand; and Campi Flegrei, Italy, experience centuries to millennia without eruption, but have the potential for large eruptions. This raises questions about how local residents' behavioral responses to these low-probability high-consequence events differ from their responses to events, such as wildfires and earthquakes, that have higher probabilities. To examine this issue, a multi-hazard mail survey of 229 households explored perceptions of—and responses to—volcano, earthquake and wildfire hazards in the Long Valley Volcanic Region. Response efficacy was the only significant predictor of emergency preparedness, which suggests that hazard managers can increase household emergency preparedness by emphasizing this attribute of protective actions. In addition to response efficacy, expected personal consequences, hazard intrusiveness, and affective responses were all significantly related to information seeking. This indicates that hazard managers can also increase households’ information seeking about local hazards and appropriate protective actions by communicating the certainty and severity of hazard impacts (thus increasing expected personal consequences) and that they communicate this information repeatedly (thus increasing hazard intrusiveness) to produce significant emotional involvement (thus increasing affective response).

Covid-19 krisen har påverkat hela världen på flera olika sätt däribland organisationer och HR-utövare. Syftet med studien var att få en fördjupad förståelse för de utmaningar HR-utövare upplevt i samband med Covid-19 krisen och deras upplevelse av hur tidigare erfarenheter och organisatorisk krisberedskap påverkat utmaningarna. Covid-19 krisen skapade en unik möjlighet att undersöka HR i förhållande till krissituationer. Studien genomfördes med nio HR-utövare från en och samma region, som helt eller delvis arbetade med strategiska HR-frågor. För att samla in empiri tillämpades en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes, intervjuerna analyserades genom en tematisk analys där fyra övergripande teman med tillhörande subteman utformades. Resultatet visade på utmaningar i att ställa om och ha ett kristänk, kommunicera och sprida information, säkerställa en god arbetsmiljö, bibehålla effektivitet, hantera ovisshet och oro samt att se till att organisationen var bemannade trots ökade sjuktal. Resultatet visade även att erfarenheter och organisationens krisberedskap på något sätt hade påverkat respondenternas upplevelser av vilka utmaningar de sett och för hur de hanterats. Teori och tidigare forskning som presenterats har lagt fokus på krisberedskap, krishantering och HRs roll vid krisarbete. Tidigare forskning om HR-utövares upplevelser av utmaningar kopplat till krissituationer har däremot inte gått att finna, därmed kan studiens resultat ha bidragit till nya perspektiv inom området. Slutsatserna som dras är att tidigare erfarenheter och krisberedskap kan ha betydelse för hur HR-utövare upplevt utmaningarna i Covid-19 krisen och att utmaningar kan vara svåra att undvika trots att förberedelse och erfarenhet finns. / The Covid-19 crisis has affected the world in many different ways, including organizations and HR practitioners. The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that HR practitioners experienced in relation to the Covid-19 crisis and their experience of how previous experiences and crisis preparedness may have affected the challenges. The Covid-19 crisis created a unique opportunity to examine HR in relation to crisis situations. The study was conducted with nine HR practitioners in the same region, who worked entirely or partly with strategic HR issues. To gather empirical data, a qualitative method was used in which semi-structured interviews were conducted, the interviews were analyzed through a thematic analysis in which four overall themes and related subthemes were designed. The results showed challenges regarding adapting and having a crisis attitude, communicate and disseminating information, ensuring and providing a good working environment, maintaining efficiency, managing uncertainty and concerns, and ensuring that the organization was staffed despite increasing sick leave rates. The results also showed that experiences and the organization's crisis preparedness in some way hade affected the challenges the respondents saw and how they were handled. Theory and previous research that has been presented have focused on crisis preparedness, crisis management and HR's role in crisis work. Previous research on HR practitioners' experiences of challenges linked to crisis situations have not been found, the result of the study may therefore have given new perspectives to the field. The conclusions that can be drawn is that past experiences and crisis preparedness can have an impact on the challenges that arised in the Covid-19 crisis and that challenges are difficult to avoid for HR practitioners despite preparation and experience.